ODE TO GEN.SIMBEYE & VERA CHILUBA, THE OTHER ‘GENERAL’ WHO SAVED THE NATION!
BY AMOS CHANDA
Following the passing of Lt. Gen. Nobbie Simbeye on August 24, 2022, Engineer Sydney Matamwandi, posed a serious professional challenge to Zambian journalists.
In his article titled “Are Zambian Journalists Lazy: The Case of General Nobbie Simbeye”, Eng.Matamwandi contrasted an obituary in the Telegraph of the United Kingdom, on the death in 2015, of Maj. Gen. Michael Grigg, the first Zambia Army Commander at independence in 1964, with what he described as poor coverage of Gen. Simbeye’s death.
This article hit raw nerves, high and low. It sparked off both refined and coarse reactions from journalists.
There a direct frustration from one amongst us thus: “there are many engineering anomalies that require answers from engineers in this country.”
On my part, I urged younger journalists to extract from the article, what is it exposes as lacking in today’s media, and ignore what it contains of error.
The disappointed engineer’s lay verdict was that the orbituaries he read lacked substance. This, he deduced from the noticeably lack of detail of the birth, training and career exploits of the late general.
He suggested an obituary is a vertical chronology of one’s life from birth to death.
It is not.
But the article was a brilliant and incisive check on the clerical journalism practice that is common today.
In an apparent response to the Mr Matamwandi’s article, Emmanuel Mwamba, in more accounts than one, rose to the challenge and delivered an informative account of the late general.
He highlighted some the highest points of Gen. Simbeye’s contributions to the country, prime among them, his role in quashing the 1997 coup attempt.
UNTOLD STORIES
And therefrom, I wish to embed into Gen. Simbeye’s orbituary, the untold heroic story of a woman that may have done just as much to save the country along with this hero soldier we bade farewell to on August 31.
Vera Chiluba, the heroine “general” that took control of the levers of power in Nkwazi House, the presidential villa, during the frustrating 90 minutes when the commander-in-chief simply won’t see the frantic general who had come to inform of a coup that was underway.
This I know, because at the presidential guest house in Mongu in 2000, Madam Vera Chiluba, the first lady of the republic then, told us a captivating story of some of the events of the October 27, 1997 attempted coup.
I, (from the Zambia Daily Mail), was in the company of my good friend Shapi Shacinda, from the Times of Zambia. In the waiting room, was Grace Kasungami (ZANIS) and Patricia Litiya, and others I cannot fully recall.
For younger reporters with limited knowledge of Gen. Simbeye, it is understandable that they would easily be irritated at the criticism of their coverage of the illustrious career of this giant general of considerable significance to the peaceful Zambia as we know it today.
For engineer Matamwandi and others who knew better, their frustrations at the poor reportage of his orbituaries is correspondingly understandable.
Niza, my friend, one of the daughters to the fallen funeral, my sincere condolences.
I never got to see Gen. Simbeye in his final days but I am grateful for his concern and very wise counsel he sent through you.
Niza, he once told you, tell Amos to take greater care of himself. Niza, he, and not you, will understand what I mean.
CODED WORDS
When the coded messages increased in frequency, Niza got worried and demanded the general be more clearer.
Still, the general insisted to his daughter, he knew I fully understood.
And I surely did.
Thank you general. You left us a good example.
I hereby add my two cents on this celebrated 3-star general, whose humility — for his achievements–was remarkably impressive.
HOBSON’S CHOICE!
When he faced the stressful situation of the October 1997 coup attempt, Gen. Simbeye did not have a choice between two mutually exclusive positions; he had a complex of intractable challenges across some of the most difficult of options any human being has to face.
Between the lure of this “god-sent” opportunity to become head of state instantly, and denying oneself for the nation;
Between his own life and that of the nation;
Between his commander in-chief and his family–iterally–; he chose to remain loyal to his professional calling!
If Gen. Simbeye had acceded to the demands of his juniors or he had allowed himself to be captured to announce the coup, most likely the rank and file would have fallen into line.
But he judged correctly that one cannot sustainably lead a coup he did not help plan.
FOR GOD & COUNTRY
If he accepted, perhaps the rogue soldiers would have deposed him no sooner had he finished the announcement.
Such a counter-coup would have had it’s own obvious negative repercussions on the stability of a country that has never been in this position before.
Had he succumbed to the ultimate pressure the mutineers put on him by holding his family hostage, he would have given away the president and country.
Those who were close by at the peak of the frightening moments of that coup attempt, tell hallowing accounts of the event.
VERA THE UNSUNG HERO
One of those unsung heroine “generals” who saved the nation is Vera Chiliba the wife of the president who took control when the commander in chief had switched on to the other realm.
Mrs Chiluba told us a story of a stubborn president who “lost” more than 90 minutes of the very delicate time to push back against the plotters.
When Lt. Gen. Simbeye escaped from the marauding rogue soldiers who stormed his residence and made his way into State House, President Chiluba won’t see him because he was deep in prayer and did not want to be disturbed.
Secondly, he wont see any general who was not appropriately dressed. The general did not have time to put on his uniform under the circumstances.
Petrified securocrats, commanded by the very skilled head of the intelligence then, Xavier Frank Chungu, (007, as we fondly knew him), scrambled to secure some military fatigue of any form to rush Gen. Simbeye before his picky commander- in-chief.
The military fatigues they secured for the general were symbolic, but not appropriate enough for the standards demanded by President Chiluba.
“Bana bandi, ala kwali akantu…(my children, it was quite something), the general was in a don’t touch my shoe bottom…and his long-sleeved shirt looked like short sleeved,” Mrs Chiluba recounted the appearance of General Simbeye in the hurriedly borrowed uniform.
Even this, the president made an issue of, but I told him he needed to see the general in whatever attire because the country was under attack. That there was no time for his usual antics, and this I told him strongly, she said.
It is not clear why a president under siege would hesitate to see his topmost commander.
But theories existed that President Chiluba suspected the general was on a mission to capture him because the drunken coup leader, Captain Solo had announced on radio that State House was surrounded and so the president needed to “emerge with a Geneva Flag or they would fish him out.”
He kept going up to the upper floor and back. I kept lines of communication active with essential State security personnel who worked round the clock to quell the uprising.
His deep sessions in prayer upstairs were necessary, but so was his requirement to give commands and approve of the plans the loyal forces has put up.
In split second decisions, I judged what he would approve and I communicated to relevant staff.
LONGEST NIGHT!
It was one of the longest nights of my life, she said.
I called the Commissioner of Police Mr Alex Museba, defence minister Mr Ben Mwila and others to inform them of the situation.
When the president was done with his prayers and I persuaded him to see the general as quickly as he could, some movements were already underway, she said.
And radio broadcasts of the coup were only fully narrated to him after the general had left, she said.
At one point I advised him to speak to the coup plotters to avert a bloodshed. He flatly refused, she said.
Then I urged him to heed the security brief for him to move to a more secure site. That too, he declined.
The Zambian people, he said, elected him to govern from the front and not from hidden bunkers. Those challenging the sovereign will of the people were up against a living God who lifted him up to the presidency and therefore they won’t succeed, the president declared.
In part, (for many reasons especially national security prohibitions), this is my heavily redacted version of the more than three hours of Mrs Chiluba’s narration of that ugly October day.
Back to where we started on the discourse of what suits an obituary, I am sure I have not just added a new dimension to the extraordinary career of this hero general Nobbie Simbeye, but also introduced into his orbituary, another unsung heroine of the October 27, 1997 push back against the coup–Mrs Vera Tembo Chiluba.
Mama, we honour your anonymous, yet great service to the nation in this regard.
Nobbie M Simbeye, we won’t tire to eulogise you as our hero general.
The soldier son of a reverend, a gentle giant who inspired many.
You served this country with distinction and sufficient honour.
Farewell, the general who saved the nation.